What does it mean “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”?

[Leonardo von Dolinger]

What does it mean “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”?

First of all, what is the role of a gate? To preclude people from coming in or out of some place. Therefore, the promise given here for us is that none of the servants of Ha-Satan (people or demons) will be able to hamper us of going out of some trap of Ha-Satan, nor hinder us of going in to the place where the Creator desire to bless us.

It comes the question: the gates of hell shall not prevail against what?

To answer this question, we need to read all the excerpt:

• Mat 16:13-18 -> “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”.

The gates of hell shall not prevail against “the Rock”, that is to say, the assertion of Peter “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

What does it mean to us?

Well, many people think that Jesus is “the rock”. Nonetheless, pay attention to the following excerpt:

• Mat 7:24-27 -> “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Note that to build the house on the rock implies in hearing Jesus’ words and put them into practice. That is to say, it doesn’t suffice believe in Christ – it is necessary to be intimate to Him.

Let’s analyze what Peter said about Jesus:

1 – “You are the Christ” -> Jesus is the One Who the Creator anointed to fulfill all His Word and save us.
2 – “You are the *Son* of the living God” -> Although He is 100% God, He is 100% man. Although generated in the womb of a woman, His father is God (and not a man).
3 – “You are the Son of the *living* God” -> The Creator, His Father, isn’t a distant or dead god, but the God that love us and wish to have intimacy with us.

So, have a good day hearing Jesus’ voice, allowing Him to convey His feelings and thoughts to you and abiding by His word. Doing thus, the people of hell never will be able to keep you at bay of Jesus’ blessing, nor captive in bad thoughts, feelings and plans.

 

[com7fy8]

Well, many people think that Jesus is “the rock”. Nonetheless, pay attention to the following excerpt:

• Mat 7:24-27 -> “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Note that to build the house on the rock implies in hearing Jesus’ words and put them into practice. That is to say, it doesn’t suffice believe in Christ – it is necessary to be intimate to Him.

I think of what can happen if a wooden house is built on soft dirt. One part of the house can start to sink faster than another end of the house. And the house can be even twisting.

And without doing what Jesus says, including for how to love, people can get quite twisted and therefore in stress and not peace, and tangled and mangled.

But Jesus says,

"'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'" (Matthew 11:29)

So, if we do what Jesus really means, we have His "rest for your souls", and this is intimate with Jesus . . . in sharing with Jesus in His love. So, this is not only some nice feeling. So indeed He does not want us only to believe and feel good about what we have been told about Him, but take His "yoke" upon us and learn from Jesus.